CARPHA and IMPACS team up to provide frontline security officers with virtual training

THE Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Caribbean
Community Implemen-tation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM
IMPACS), both members of the CARICOM Security Cluster, as part of the
coordinated regional response to COVID-19, recently delivered a
virtual training session for frontline security officers, on measures
to protect themselves in the line of duty.

The training was designed for frontline security officers, who
continue to go above and beyond to protect the health and safety of
citizens and visitors, while ensuring their own security and to
provide confidence across the system, as some Member States move into
the recovery phase from COVID-19.

The main objective of the live training, which was held earlier this
month, was to equip national security officers in CARICOM Member
States on the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Lt. Col.
Michael Jones, Acting Executive Director of IMPACS, emphasized the
importance of these skills to security professionals.
“They are critical to officers in the completion of their daily duties
at ports of entry and with investigations,” he said.

According to Dr. Joy St. John, CARPHA’s Executive Director, “CARPHA
has had excellent support from all of the members of the Security
Cluster of CARICOM in the fight against COVID-19. These officers are
critical members of the CARICOM frontline and their safety is
essential, as they must preserve Regional Health Security and safety
in order to keep persons in the CARICOM States optimally protected.”

The training, hosted in collaboration with the Caribbean Basin
Security Initiative – Connect (CBSI-Connect) programme, reached more
than 500 frontline workers from various security divisions – police,
prisons, customs, immigration and military; from 17 territories across
the Caribbean namely Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands,
Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint
Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago,
and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The course continues to be available to all national security
professionals on the CBSI-Connect platform.